Monday, July 7, 2008

Buffalo Bills is a brand of jerky produced by Lebanon, PA-based Choo Choo R Snacks Inc.

The company has been producing beef jerky since 1990, back when a lot of jerky was still the chopped and formed stuff. It was founded by five independent snack food distributors who saw an opportunity to capitalize by producing jerky made from real cuts of meat.

The "Country Cut" represents the moist and tender variety that much of the industry is using to tap into the female and elderly consumer. It's contrasted against the company's "Western Cut" which is the thinly cut and dry variety.

Every ingredient used in Buffalo Bills was produced in the USA, including USA-grown cattle.

The very first taste that hits me is a heavy smokiness, followed quickly by a sweetness. The natural meat flavors starts to come in, and then a saltiness, and then a taste of the soy sauce.

I'd say overall, the soy sauce flavor is what lingers throughout the chewing. I can continue to taste it all the way until I swallow it down. There is a definite saltiness to this, but I didn't necessarily find it to leave my mouth scorched.

I'd say there is a slight teriyaki taste to this, but honestly what I taste is soy sauce. I've had an awful lot of teriyaki sauce in my time, having some Japanese descent in me, as well as soy sauce. Real teriyaki sauce is actually a combination of soy sauce, sugar, and sake (or mirin), then boiled down to a thick consistency, and then some some chefs like to add ginger afterwards to create a bit of pungent contrast. I'm not really sensing that authentic teriyaki taste here.

The natural meat flavors come out in this very well after some chews, and is quite enjoyable.

Overall this has a great flavor, with its strong smokiness, a very "meaty" taste, with a soy sauce flavor and sweetness. "Salty" is something you'd also want to call this. Still, I'm finding it very difficult to avoid reaching for more.

Meat Consistency

These appear to be real cuts of meat, mostly sliced into strips about 4" in length, and in medium to thick thickness. I found several "crumbled" pieces in the bottom of the bag.

These strips are semi-moist, and are very easy to tear apart and chew. The package labels this as "soft and tender", and I think that's a very appropriate description. I can bite a piece off from a strip going against the grain, and it bites off with little resistance.

Unlike many other soft and tender varieties, I didn't find this to be "mushy" or "gummy" at all. It retains the character of real beef jerky, but gives you a very pleasant eating experience.

Some of the strips had visible flecks of fat, otherwise I didn't encounter any tendon or gristle.

All in all, the meat consistency is excellent, allowing me to enjoy the flavors without distraction.

Product Value

Choo Choo R Snacks sells this Country Cut Teriyaki variety from its website at a price of $5.49 for a 3.5oz package. That works out to $1.57 per oz, putting this into the average price range.

I'd say this provides a great value, combining a very flavor-packed variety, with a very easy-to-eat texture, and great snackability. You're getting lots of beef jerky pleasure for your buck.

As a teriyaki variety, I'm just not finding very much in the way of teriyaki taste. If the sweetness is what you like about teriyaki, then this will provide a fair amount of sweetness. If you just like a soy sauce-flavored jerky, this'll do good also. But there isn't a lot of teriyaki flavor here.

Rating

I'm giving this a "good" rating.

If not for the conservative showing of teriyaki taste, I would have rated this as "best". Otherwise, it's got what most folks want in a beef jerky, tons of flavor, a good meaty taste, very easy to eat and chew, and great snackability. The heavy smoky taste in this is a welcome surprise.

It is on the salty side, which is something I'm not a big fan of, but something I was willing to overlook due to the great taste. I know many other folks love salty jerky.

Still this is a meat-lover's jerky, something I could take with me to my backyard patio, with a can of Coke, and enjoy while I listen to the birds.

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About Best Beef Jerky

I'm Steve Johnson, and I've been in the Internet marketing and publishing business since 1997. I've been a life-long fan of beef jerky and decided to merge my profession with my snack food of choice, and gave birth to Best Beef Jerky.

I review beef jerky, turkey jerky, bison jerky, pretty much any meat jerky, even vegan jerky. I review meat sticks, biltong, cecina, carne seca, it's all fair game as long as it's meat, it's dried, and it's a snack.